2/03/2005

the wrong words

"Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot," Mattis said, prompting laughter from some military members in the audience. "It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling...it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them."

So said General James Mattis, the three-star general who commanded Marines in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the explanation of the words strikes me as much more interesting. His commandant explained that "he should have chosen his words more carefully." His word choice, apparently, was the problem. The military doesn't feel the content or the spirit of his words was wrong--only his diction.